


Everything You Do Is Magic

by fireflyingaway



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Everyone Is Alive/No One Dies, Everyone Is Gay, Idiots To Lovers?, M/M, Magical Library AU, Non-Binary Flynn (Julie and The Phantoms), Non-Binary Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Screen Reader Friendly, Trans Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), everyone is a witch, idiots to lovers, in my fics luke patterson is /always/ trans, remember this:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29993268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireflyingaway/pseuds/fireflyingaway
Summary: After the disaster in Salem, the witches have found and formed a world all their own, but there’s a little corner on the outskirts of Los Angeles where their world meets ours. Since the 1800s, the Los Feliz Library has served as a gateway between the witches and the humans— and since one summer in 2012, it’s also served as Reggie Peters’ safe haven from prying eyes and pressuring parents and a world he’s not entirely sure how he fits into. When a spell gone wrong has his crush poofing into his bedroom, Reggie’s gotta do whatever it takes to get Luke home in one piece— and to be sure he doesn’t lose what he holds most dear in the process.Or alternatively, the Los Feliz Library is just like every other library except for those secret corners where it’s absolutelynotand Reggie Peters is just like every other guy except for the fact that he’s actually a witch. Cue shenanigans.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina & Reggie Peters, Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), minor Flynn/Carrie Wilson if u squint
Comments: 23
Kudos: 34





	1. From Different Worlds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cosmic_croissant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_croissant/gifts).



It’s a sight to behold, that’s for certain. The boy sticks out like a sore thumb amid cherry wood floors with burgundy rugs, the beautifully carved bookshelves piled high with books, and the little coffee kiosk they added in the 70s that Reggie bakes muffins for every Saturday morning. He’s sitting criss-cross on a chair just in the corner of Reggie’s vision as he points a nice lady over to the self-help section. He has his headphones around his neck like he just came out of an early 2000s teen movie and his jeans are ripped to shreds and patched up all over and that cut-off tee can’t _possibly_ be socially acceptable to wear in a library that’s been around since the 1800s.

He’s hunched over a journal like it’s his universe, pouring out his soul through his pencil as he writes in its pages. Every once in a while, the pencil comes off the paper and he bites on it as his gaze skims over his words. Then, for one split second— if Reggie blinked he would miss it— the boy’s eyes go wide and his mouth forms a little “oh” before the pencil’s right back on the paper as if it had never left and it’s not fair. It’s not fair that he gets to write like that right in front of Reggie’s face and Reggie doesn’t even get to know the _words_.

You know what else isn’t fair?

That cut-off tee.

The cut goes _so_ much further down his side than necessary and the white brings out the tan in his skin and his arms are all toned and powerful and suddenly Reggie feels an inexplicable need to start doing bench presses.

“Do we have a dress code?” He asks Julie because she would know since her father’s running the place.

“Other than ‘don’t show up in your underwear’? No.”

“Well, we should get one.” Reggie decides and for some reason or another Julie’s giggling at this statement.

“This is a _library_ , not a boarding school,” she reminds him, “we have no reason to stifle the freedom of whatever a patron wears as long as they have their shirt and their shoes.”

“Yeah, okay, sure, but _that_ —” he grandly gestures to the boy’s ensemble “— can’t _possibly_ be allowed. The entire point of a library is that it’s quiet so you can _focus_ on what you’re doing and how is _anyone_ supposed to be able to focus on _anything_ with that gun show in their field of vision?”

“Reg, he’s been coming here for months and you’re the only one ever bothered by his wardrobe choices.” She wasn’t wrong. This has been happening for _months_. He’s been showing up in those stupid cut-offs for _months_. He’s been writing in that journal like it’s his mouthpiece for _months_. He’s been coming up to the front desk just to ask how they’re doing for _months_ and he hasn’t gotten a card so Reggie doesn’t even get to know his name. _Surely_ , one could see why his sanity is wearing thin.

And as if on cue, he’s walking up to the counter and Reggie scrambles to get himself busy, taking some books off of the return rack and sorting them in alphabetical order. “How are we doing back here today?” He asks in a hushed tone as per usual, sparing a two-second glance to Reggie that stunts the flow of his breathing.

“We’re doing good, thanks for asking,” Julie answers like she always does. “Do you need help with anything today?”

“No thanks.”

Usually, at this point, he would say something along the lines of ‘see you around’ and head out the door. But apparently for today he’s flipping the script, Reggie discovers in horror as he leans his elbows on the counter to look at the books Reggie’s sorting. “Oh, what’s that one?” He asks, pointing to one of the books. “It um… looks interesting.”

He doesn’t look like a regency romance type _at all_ , but Reggie can’t think about both that and his enunciation when _this guy_ is looking at him like _that_. “Um… ah… eh…“ he gestures to it with one hand as he finally manages one single word: “book.”

There’s a melody somewhere in his laugh and Reggie can feel it calling to him and it takes him a second to realize he’s the one being laughed at. This guy’s _laughing_ at him but he can’t even be upset about it because that laugh is a song and he wants it on repeat. “Yeah,” he breathes with a beaming smile, “it’s a book. What’s it about?” His eyes are pleading and desperate, searching all over Reggie’s face for something dear to him that he’s lost. Reggie doesn’t know that color in them. He’s never seen that color in his life and he has absolutely no idea how he could possibly describe it and it’s driving him _insane_. It’s a beautiful color. Reggie wants it on his bedroom walls. Or maybe on his clothes. Or maybe he just wants to drown in it. _What is that color?_

The stranger tilts his head and Reggie remembers he asked a question and is looking for an answer but he can’t be expected to formulate _words_ while someone’s looking at him like that and _oh god, he_ **_just_ ** _realized he hasn’t read this one_ and—

“Um… ah… eh—”

“What are we looking at?” Alex cuts in ( _thank god_ ), leaning an elbow on Reggie’s shoulder as he looks at the book. “Ah, well if you’re interested in getting to know the Bridgertons, I’d suggest you start from the beginning. This is the fourth book.”

“There’s four of these?” The boy’s looking at Alex now ( ** _thank god_ **).

“There’s nine of them, actually.”

_“Nine?”_

“Yeah, would you like me to get you the first one? It might not be back yet, I’ll have to check the records—”

“No, I’m good, thanks.” He backs up from the counter, hands in his pockets. “I’ll um… see you guys later?”

“Yeah,” Alex answers, but before the boy can leave, he decides to go rogue. “You should come by Saturday morning, that’s when Reggie here brings muffins.” The elbow comes off Reggie’s shoulder so a hand can be clasped on it for a moment instead before the contact goes completely.

“He makes muffins?” He makes a point to look at Reggie as if it’s not Alex he’s talking to.

Reggie looks at his hands as his fingers weave together and apart. “Sometimes scones,“ he mumbles.

“Yeah, and they’re always _delicious_ , but they come in short supply so you gotta come early if you want the first pick.”

“I’ll remember that thank you,” he smiles at them all and Alex just gives a cool little nod as he heads out the door. But the second the door closes, Alex's head is in his hands, shaking side to side. “ _Dear God_ , Reggie, you’re _hopeless_ ,” he cries in the most over-dramatic whisper Reggie had ever heard.

“Wow, thanks,” he responds dryly as he puts the books back on the rack.

“Dude no, you don’t get it, he was _flirting_ with you!”

“What?” The mere concept has a blush creeping to his face. “N-no he wasn’t.”

“What— are you kidding me?! Julie—” he turns to her “— Julie, you _saw that_ , right?”

“Yeah, he was flirting,” she agrees.

“Guys, _stop it_ , he wasn’t flirting, Okay? There were _no_ pickup lines.”

“Pickup lines? Bro, did you _see_ him? It was like—” he starts making his way out from behind the front desk. “He was like—” he copies the boy’s position, propping his elbows on the counter, and keeps his face downcast for a second before his eyes lock onto Reggie’s with the most ridiculous, over-the-top lovelorn look on his face. “Hello, _Reginald_.” Those words alone have Julie immediately losing her composure, her laughter acting as background music for the scene and Alex stiffens slightly in his desperate attempts to hold onto his ground, rolling his shoulders a little once he feels he can continue.

“I can’t help but notice you glanced at a book for a fraction of a second,” he points to where the books had been, “now please, _please_ tell me everything about it even though I _clearly_ don’t actually give a shit.” He throws in some big-old-puppy-dog eyes and a few flutters of his lashes before breaking the act, backing up from the front desk. “I mean honestly— _honestly_ — if any guy ever did that to me, I’d be taking him out to dinner _on the spot_ , what the _fuck_ , Reginald? What the ever-living _shit_?”

“Oh come on, he wasn’t— it wasn’t like _that_!”

Julie nods profusely with her hands over her grin. “It was kinda like that.”

“It was _exactly_ like that,” Alex insists as he comes back behind the desk. “Come on, Reg, what’s your deal? You like him, don’t you? And he _obviously_ likes you. Can’t you just—” he shrugs slightly “—talk to him? Like any other person would?”

“You’re one to talk. How many years have you been pining for Willie now?”  
  
Alex rushes to shush him, a single finger lurking over his mouth. “Could you _quiet down_? They might hear you.”

“From the other side of the room?” He asks, now gesturing to the kiosk where Willie stands behind the counter waiting for an order. He notices the pair looking at him and gives them a smile and a wave, which Alex sheepishly returns.

“He could use, like…” he trails off, at a loss for words, “a hearing enhancement spell or something? I don’t know.”

“We’re not allowed to use spells while in the human domain.”

“Yeah, but we’re talking about _Willie_.”

There’s a pause in the flow of the conversation as Reggie observes Willie, who’s now making a cappuccino. They had shown up to work this afternoon in a long-sleeved black dress with a white collar and black combat boots, hair tied up in a pair of french braids that are almost covered by one of those crazy old hats humans always say witches wear.

Alex had spent the first hour of their shift ranting about how Willie thought it was “fun” to flaunt his big secret so obviously. _“Honestly, sometimes it’s like he’s_ **_begging_ ** _to get caught!”_ Alex had whisper-shouted, though something about the flush in his cheeks gave Reggie the idea that he actually didn’t mind Willie’s devil-may-care attitude all that much.

“Alright, you got me there, but still—”

“Alex is right you know, even if he needs to learn how to take his own advice,” Julie gives him a look before turning her focus to Reggie. “He seems _really_ sweet and he _really_ likes you.”

“Okay, let’s pretend for a second that you’re right. What would it matter?” He asks, taking another stack of books off the rack to put back on their shelves. “It’s not like anything worthwhile can come out of it. We’re _literally_ from different worlds.”

Julie sighs, “yeah, I know.”

It’s something every witch knows, the history ingrained deeply within them from youth.

After the Salem Witch Trials, a group of witches known as _The First Council_ had built up Orpheum as a realm where they could all be safe from the human’s hunting games, and Reggie completely respects how that was necessary. If it hadn’t been for _The First Council_ , witches would be long gone by now and Reggie, quite frankly, is very glad to exist. He also respects that the human realm’s a hot mess: in some ways, it’s at its best and in others it’s at its absolute _worst_ and the last thing it needs is witches popping back in the mix after some three hundred years.

But at the same time, it’s such a goddamn _tragedy_.

So many witches talk about how humans are barbaric and cruel and selfish, but Reggie’s adored the human race for as long as he could remember. Humans have always found ways to create their own forms of magic, and have always fought to survive and persist no matter what plague fell upon them. When they seek things, they pursue them so fervently— guidance, knowledge, beauty, _love_ — it’s amazing and Reggie craves nothing more than to be a quiet observer, to see all the passion and heart that humanity has to offer him.

But he can’t do that because he’s a witch and if any of the humans really _knew_ him, they’d _fear_ him. What could be more tragic than that?

At least he has the library, though.

That’s where the passion and heart of humanity is stored: in _books_. It’s one of many things Reggie has noted as a common trait witches and humans share. Witches will write their spells and potions and history and _dreams_ while humans will write their guidance and knowledge and beauty and _love_. Books are how people— human and witch alike— communicate how they’ve pieced together some sort of _sense_ of the world. If he could, he’d read every single book in existence, but that would take an eternity and a half and even if Reggie had the time for it, he _certainly_ doesn’t have the attention span.

As long as he’s alive, though, he’ll read every book he can. And lucky him, he has the perfect place to do it.

Soon enough, the library closes and Reggie gets ready to head back from his home to his house.

“I’m staying behind to help my dad close shop. If you wanna stick around, we’d love an extra set of hands,” Julie tells him and he wants nothing more than to stay in the library for as long as possible, but…

“I’m having dinner with my folks tonight,” he sighs.

“Okay,” she nods before pulling him into her arms. He’s quick to accept and return the embrace, smiling as he ruffles her curls. “Have a safe trip home,” she says, “and remember, the Molina doors are _always_ open for you.”

* * *

Dinner was a nightmare, but that isn’t exactly new. Reggie’s parents are _particular,_ to say the least on the subject. Outside the walls, the Peters seem like the perfect family that everyone’s looking to have (with the exception of the one kid in the middle who can’t seem to get anything right), but behind closed doors, the whole family’s a disaster area. Mom and Dad can’t try for a single conversation without it turning into a yelling match. Ronnie got away from them _years_ ago and hasn’t talked to any of them since. Ricky is starting to go through his rebellious teen phase and keeps holed up in his room _constantly_. Reggie, as always, is the one kid in the middle who can’t seem to get anything right.

He loves reading. He loves learning. He loves knowing. So clearly, he knows all the right spells and all the right steps. He has the school thing all figured out _in theory_. The problem is no matter how hard he studies, no matter how much he knows, Reggie can never properly perform a spell anywhere above level 2. “I know you can do it, Peters,” his teacher always says. “You ace all the written tests, so I _know_ you can perform.”

_“You just gotta focus.”_

_“Stop slacking off.”_

_“You’re better than this.”_

_“Quit acting like an idiot.”_

What if he _is_ an idiot? What if he’s an idiot that also just so happens to be a dork?

He can’t sleep. It’s almost one in the morning and he wants nothing more than to sleep, but he _has_ to master this spell before tomorrow or he’ll get a bad grade and his parents will flip. It should be simple enough; his familiar is out in the backyard, and all he has to do is summon him back to his room but he’s been practicing for _days_ and he _still_ can’t get it right.

“Come on, Astrophel,” he whispers as he carves the symbol in the air, pressing it to the carpet as the seal takes form. _“_ _Veniunt_ _!"_ Once again, there’s a jackalope in his bedroom. Pale hands knit into dark locks as Reggie grinds his teeth together, using all of his willpower not to scream and wake everyone up. He’ll give it one more try, he tells himself as he opens the window and draws the critter out of his room. One more try and then he’ll get some rest so he doesn’t show up to class looking like a zombie.

One more try. Everything will be fine. He knows the seal, he knows the steps, he just has to focus.

_Focus focus focus focus focus focus focus._

The mantra is endless in his mind.

_Focus focus focus focus focus focus focus._

“C’mon, c’mon, _c’mon_ ,” he whispers as he carves the symbol in the air, pressing it to the carpet as the seal takes form. For a split second— one inkling of a moment— he dares to think about how he’d much rather be _home_ right now, tucked away in a book in his favorite corner of the Loz Feliz Library. And of course, only disaster can come of this.

_“Veniunt!”_

Reggie recognizes the eyes first. The eyes are what have him connecting the dots. He wants to take a closer look, to count every fleck, to _hope_ to piece together what that color is that now swirls like a storm as they glance in all directions. Slowly but surely, they attach to a face: dark brows raised to dark hair, soft lips slightly agape. The face attaches to a body: the t-shirt he’s wearing is _way_ too big on him and his knuckles turn white from their grip on the fabric. That’s what attaches it to a place: Reggie’s bedroom, Reggie’s carpet, Reggie’s bed, Reggie’s collection of pretty things resting on his nightstand. It all branches out to a situation:

The boy from the library is in his room.

_The boy from the library is in his fucking room._

“Um, hey,” he bites on his bottom lip as he looks at Reggie, slowly standing. “Any chance you know how I got here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **thanks to:**  
>  my beta, [alyssa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/decaffeinatedmisery), who i would not properly function without <3  
> [jatp-gift-exchange on tumblr](https://jatp-gift-exchange.tumblr.com/) for hosting this wonderful gift exchange <3  
> [val](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vioislit) for uttering the words “regency romances lol” as i was searching through historical fiction that fit the Vibe™ i was going for and making me screech like a pterodactyl <3


	2. I Wanted To Hear It From You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a magical mishap has Luke running through a world beyond his imagination, Reggie has to find him before anyone else can find out he’s an outsider.

_“Pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up.”_

If he stares at the orb’s swirling patterns hard enough, maybe his friends will accept the call.

“Come on guys, this is an _emergency. Pick up pick up pick up pi—_ Julie, thank god, we got a code red.”

“Code red? And you’re not infusing _Subitis_?”

“ _Subitis_ could draw The Council’s attention and I _really_ can’t have them knowing about this.”

“Why? What happened?”

“This _better_ be important,” Flynn answers, their tone implying anger but their eyes _screaming_ worry. “You’re interrupting my beauty rest!” She cries as if she doesn’t regularly stay up until two.

“Well, I was working on the summoning spell and I was getting really really frustrated because I keep summoning jackalopes which, you know, isn’t _terrible_ because jackalopes are _super cute_ but it’s obviously not what Mr. Scott wants and getting them out of my room is a _pain_ —”

Alex joins the call with a yawn, rubbing at his eye, “What’s up, Reg?”

“I was working on the summoning spell and I was _super_ tired and I had been thinking about how sucky my home life is because Dad is always _so loud_ and I haven’t talked to Ronnie since he started university and I miss him like crazy—”

Willie joins the call on his broomstick and Reggie can’t help wondering what he’s doing out this late on a school night. “Hey man! Digging the pants,” Reggie’s eyes shoot down to the cartoon pizzas on his pajamas and he’s hit with the realization that the boy from the library _just saw him in his pizza pants._ **_This is a nightmare._ **

“Reggie, we still don’t know what’s going on,” Flynn whispers, snapping him out of his pizza pants trance.

“What are we talking about?”

“Reggie seems to be having some sort of crisis,” Julie fills Willie in and their face quickly grows solemn.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was working on the summoning spell and I started thinking about how much I’d rather be tucked away in a corner at Los Feliz with a really nice book because it’s so nice and homey and _quiet_ and nothing smells better than a bunch of books—”

 _“Reggie,”_ Julie has always been _scarily_ good at bringing a wave of calm over Reggie’s chaos. He’s pretty sure it’s something in her eyes— this sense of _warmth_ — whenever Reggie finds himself in the middle of a swirling snowstorm, Julie’s the cabin with a gorgeous fireplace and a fresh cup of hot cocoa. “What happened?”

Reggie takes a deep breath before answering with eyes shut tight: “I kinda sorta summoned the cute sleeveless guy from the library to my room.”

There’s this one split second of silence and Reggie keeps his eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the yelling and berating he knows deep down he’s not gonna get but for some reason, he still _fears_ it. And then, out of nowhere, there’s _laughing_. Flynn and Willie are _laughing_ and Julie’s trying to shush them with her hand over her mouth and even Alex has his lips pressed into an all-too-thin line like he’s waiting to burst.

“Guys, come on, this isn’t funny!” He whisper-shouts, “if The Council finds out about this, I’m _fucked_!”

“I’m sorry, man,” Willie says as he tries to catch his breath, “you’re right, this isn’t fun—” his last syllable gets swallowed by giggles.

“Wait wait wait _wait_ ,” Alex puts everything on pause, eyes bulging. _“Reggie?”_

“Yeah?”

_“What was that banging on your door earlier?”_

Reggie’s eyes lock onto another cartoon pizza, heat rising in his cheeks as he squeaks, “I kinda sorta locked the cute sleeveless guy from the library in my room.”

“Oh my God, _Reggie_!” The corners of Alex’s mouth turn up as he scolds him gently, the rest of the group in hysterics. “Are you _serious_? Reggie, what the—” hell was suffocated as Alex joined the ever-joyful chorus.

 _“I panicked!”_ Reggie defends himself to the jury that only proceeded to laugh _harder_. “Look, I called for _help_ but if you guys are just gonna be _laughing_ at me—”

“No no, don’t end the call, we’ll help! Right guys?” Julie gives a stern look as if she hadn’t been laughing along with them _seconds_ earlier.

“Of _course_ we will.”

“Yeah, we’re here for you.”

“Whatever you need, Reg.”

“It’s still a little funny though,” Flynn insists with a grin before looking at him with her full attention.

Sometimes, Reggie needs a split second to think about how grateful he is for his friends. Like God, how would he _survive_ without these losers? “Okay, um… what do I do from here?”

“First of all, don’t lock him up alone in your room.”

“Wow, thanks Alex, great advice for five minutes ago. What do I do _now_?”

“Get back in there and just _talk to him_ , okay? Just be honest,” Julie advises. 

“And tell him what? ‘Hey there, cute sleeveless guy I don’t even know the name of! I just accidentally summoned you into my room! By the way, I’m a witch and so is literally _everyone else_ around here, but don’t freak out or The Council might find you and then we’ll _both_ be dead meat!’”

“That’s actually pretty good, considering the situation. Just try to be a little more gentle about it, okay? He’s probably scared out of his mind.”

“Do we even know if I can actually _talk_ to him? You saw what happened last time.”

“You’ll be _fine_ , okay? Just take a deep breath and get in there.”

“You got this, Reg!”

“Go get him!”

“You can’t _possibly_ do much worse than last time,” Alex teases.

“Thanks, guys. Talk to you tomorrow?” Reggie asks, getting a gaggle of variants to “yes” in response.

“Let us know how it goes,” Julie adds.

“I will,” Reggie replies before ending the call. He stands up and goes through the hall to his bedroom door, taking a deep breath before opening the door to an empty room with the window wide open. **_Shit._ **

“It’s okay,” Reggie tells himself, “it’s okay. He couldn’t have gotten too far. It’s not like he can use a teleportation spell or even fly a broom. It’s okay.”

Except Julie said it herself; _he’s probably scared out of his mind_ _._ He’s scared out of his mind and has no clue where he’s going. He could so easily get hurt _(or worse)_ and if the wrong person discovers he’s a human, he _definitely_ will. He’s out there somewhere alone and cold and _terrified._

Reggie’s gotta find him. Reggie’s gotta find him _fast._

He closes his window and grabs his jacket and shoes before making a mad dash for the front door. Once he’s outside, he grabs his broom and whistles, sending a golden retriever barrelling towards him. “Hey boy,” Reggie whispers, beaming as he scratches his familiar behind the ear. “Okay Ro, I need you to fly,” Reggie tells him, bringing about his transformation into a budgie. “Good boy! Okay, we’re splitting up. You’re going that way—” Reggie points in front of himself, and then behind, “— I’m going this way, alright? You know who we’re looking for?”

The budgie only chirps before flying off in the direction he was pointing, and Reggie can’t help feeling worried. He knows all about the connection of a familiar and its owner— how familiars can get certain visuals and understandings from them— but he’s never had to _depend_ on it before.

He can’t think about this too hard, though; not with the task at hand.

He hops onto the broom, pressing his palm over the seal. _“Surrecturus,”_ he commands, and the broom begins to rise. “Good, good,” he whispers, patiently waiting until it’s just high enough before his next command; _”Tardis.”_ And it begins to glide through the suburbs, Reggie steering it every which way with eyes peeled.

 _Think think think think. If you were a human, what would you do? If you were a human, what would you do?_ **_If you were a human, what would you do?_**

Reggie spots the Midnight Carnival a little ways away. There’s no way the boy could get in— no one could until they were twenty and the boy looks around his age, but…

If Reggie were a human, he’d wanna go see something cool…

It feels all sorts of awkward to be circling the perimeter of the Midnight Carnival, dodging the guards that constantly pass by in hopes that some guy he doesn’t even know the name of _might_ show up there. But it’s not long before Reggie spots him in the distance, staring at the floating carousels in awe, and it’s all worth it. It’s hard to feel enthused about this when he also spots a guard on his way towards the library boy.

Reggie swears it’s the fastest he’s ever gone, running up to grab his hand and pull him away from the scene. There’s a moment where the guard tries to chase them, but he quickly goes back to his post, leaving Reggie alone with the boy, hiding in a dark alley, pressing him up into the wall. If Reggie’s cheeks flush a little pink, _surely_ no one could see it in the dark of night… right?

“Wha—”

Apparently, Reggie’s feeling a little bold, pressing the tip of his index finger to the boy’s lips with a gentle shushing noise. He doesn’t process what he’s done until he’s already done it and there’s a good few seconds where neither of them are _breathing_ and Reggie can’t move. He certainly _thinks_ about it— about how he’s standing too close and there’s a hand on his waist and his finger is on the guy’s lips and he _really_ shouldn’t have risked looking at that finger because now he’s mesmerized by what’s underneath it and he’s _definitely_ blushing and _dear god—_

Reggie jerks his hands away, pulling them behind him and clasping them together there. “Sorry, um—”

“I don’t mind,” he interrupts, his eyes darting to Reggie’s lips as he bites his own, and what is that? Is Reggie delusional? Is he being tortured? Is this guy making fun of him? _What is that?_ “So, uh…” his train of thought is interrupted by the sound of the boy’s voice, “can you _please_ tell me what all of this is about?”

“Right, yeah, um…” a deep breath, right? That’s what Julie said? Just take a deep breath. “Okay, so I kind of—” he tries for laughter, but it comes out shaky— “I kind of accidentally summoned you into my room?”

“Like— Like the way you would a _demon_?”

“No, summoning demons is a _very_ different process.”

“Okay… but how— how did you _summon_ me? Like, what are you, a witch?” He laughs at the concept but stops laughing when he sees Reggie’s cringe. “Oh my God, _are you a witch_?”

“I’m kind of a witch,” Reggie nods, and the boy's eyes grow wide. “And so’s literally everyone else here and if any of them realize you’re _not_ , we’ll both be in deep shit.”

“Y-you’re a witch…”

“Yeah, we got that part.”

“With, like, the hat and broom and shit?”

“Well, I have a broom, yeah, but no hat— what’s with you humans and the _hat_ anyway?”

“I don’t know, it’s just… a thing… moving on, you— you _summoned_ me? _Why_?”

“It was an accident and I _swear_ I’ll fix it, alright? I’ll get you back home, I _promise_ , but I need you to trust me, okay?”

“Well, I guess I don’t really have a plan b, do I?” He asks, and all Reggie can offer as an answer is a wry grin. “Alright,” he nods, “I’ll trust you.”

“Okay, we’ll get you there tomorrow after school? I think we could both use some rest and if I miss school tomorrow my parents will _kill_ me.”

“Uh… y-yeah, sounds good,” he agrees, and Reggie hops on his broom, nodding at the boy to get on behind him. “What’s with you guys and brooms, anyway?” He asks with a little laugh as he obeys.

“Well, there’s multiple things about the size and shape that make it really helpful, but it’s actually mostly just because they’re made of wood.”

“Wait, huh?”

_“Surrecturus.”_

Reggie flushes again when the guy grabs his waist as they start to go up.

“You never told me your name,” he says, and Reggie’s heart drops to the pit of his stomach. Was he that forgettable?

“It’s Reggie. The muffin guy, remember?”

“I remembered, I just—” he buries his face in Reggie’s back “— I wanted to hear it from you,” he says, and Reggie’s heart _soars_. “I’m Luke, by the way.” The name chants through Reggie’s mind;

_Luke Luke Luke Luke Luke, his name is Luke, what a great name, it feels like it deserves a ballad or something, Luke Luke Luke Luke—_

“Well, Luke, hold on tight, we’re about to get in gear,” Reggie warns before pressing his palm over the seal.

_“Celer.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **thanks to:**  
>  my beta, [alyssa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/decaffeinatedmisery), who i would not properly function without <3  
> [jatp-gift-exchange on tumblr](https://jatp-gift-exchange.tumblr.com/) for hosting this wonderful gift exchange <3  
> [val](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vioislit) for continuing to give great, top tier suggestions such as “pizza pants” <3


	3. Tell Me About Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reggie’s already worried enough about school today, he _really_ doesn’t need to deal with Luke stowing away in his backpack, and yet…

Reggie had almost been convinced that it was all just a crazy dream. It was his first thought when he had woken up: how vivid and lifelike and absolutely _insane_ it had been. He went through his morning routine thinking about how completely ordinary things were, because surely if he had _actually_ summoned “Luke” into his room, the world would be upside down. He ate his breakfast playing everything over in his mind, step by step— from the call with his friends to that… _moment_ in the alley to when they snuck back into the house with hushed whispers, almost tripping over themselves in the dark of night— and laughing at himself a little for how wild his imagination could get sometimes. He’d even checked Ronnie’s room, where Reggie had supposedly let the boy sleep for the night and everything was the same as always.

Because of _course_ it would be the same as always. Because nothing of interest happened the night before.

But then Reggie walks into his own room and nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees Luke looking through his closet and that completely debunks the dream theory, he decides as he turns to lock his door.

“You really shouldn’t be walking through the house until we leave, you could’ve gotten caught.”

“I know, but we haven’t really discussed the plan,” Luke explains, carefully observing one of Reggie’s shirts.

“The plan is I go to school and you stay out of sight until I get back.”

“Cool, cool… when will you be back?”

“Around three. Oh, and you need to be in my room by then with everything how we left it because I’ll be with Ricky and he can’t know you’re here.”

“What if he catches us on our way out?” He shoves the shirt he was holding away and grabs another one before looking at Reggie with a raised brow.

“He won’t. He’s a fourteen-year-old boy going through that ‘nobody understands me’ phase. Two minutes after we get back and he’ll be cooped up in his room with pizza pockets, we’ll be _fine_. Until then, avoid the windows and don’t open the doors for _anything_.”

Luke nods in agreement before looking back down to the shirt, quickly shoving it off and grabbing a new one. 

“What are you doing, by the way?” Reggie asks, folding his shirts to put them back.

“You don’t want me walking through town in my pajamas, do you?”

“ _Definitely_ not,” Reggie decides immediately, but… “is there something wrong with my clothes?”

“Your pants are fine,” Luke rushes to say, “but your shirts are just a _little_ tight for me. Normally, I wouldn’t mind it _that_ much, but my binder’s back home, so…”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well shit, um…” Reggie points to the door once his shirts are put back away, “I can— I can get you something of Ronnie’s, maybe? Or um… or my dad’s?”

“Yeah, that’d be _great._ Just like… anything _big_. Anything really big would be super nice. And also maybe if you could find something like… you know, _thick_?”

“Got it, I’ll go look around okay? Just _stay here_ ,” Reggie stresses before leaving the room.

After digging through Ronnie’s clothes and sneaking into his parent’s bedroom to look at his dad’s, Reggie comes back to find Luke by his nightstand, looking through the book he presses flowers in. “Um…” Luke’s eyes lock onto his, “Ho-How’s this?” Reggie asks, holding out one of his dad’s hoodies.

Luke walks closer to study it a little, taking it in his hands before deciding “it’s _perfect_.”

It’s then that he hears his mom’s special knock on the door. ”Shit, hide!” Reggie whispers, giving him a little push towards his closet as the door begins to open. _Fuck, he forgot to lock it._ He moves to crowd the door a little before she can get too far in. “Hey, mom!”

“Um, hi, sweety,” she says, looking past him and around the room. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah! Just let me…” Reggie looks back behind him to see an empty room, no sign of Luke. “Just let me grab a couple of things…” he leaves the door wide open as he picks up his backpack, quickly shoving a couple of books in it before zipping it up and leaving the room.

* * *

Reggie doesn’t realize it on the way to school as he looks out the window and tries to shut out all the bickering. He doesn’t realize it as he walks through the halls with his friends and fills them in on everything that happened after that call the night before (because Flynn insisted that yes, they absolutely would die if they didn’t know _every single detail_ about it). He doesn’t realize it until he’s minutes away from his first class of the day.

He just opens his backpack to start looking for his history book and there’s Luke, fiddling with the sleeves of the hoodie he’s now wearing as he sits _in Reggie’s backpack._ Well, that’s a tardy in his history class, Reggie decides as he rushes off to the restrooms before the teacher can arrive, reopening the bag on the countertop. “Luke, what are you doing?”

Luke shrinks into himself a little, cheeks flushed pink and eyes staring at a corner with nothing in it as he answers in a small voice: “I tripped.”

“You… you _tripped_.”

“It-It’s your fault, really, you—” Luke makes an effort to look at Reggie, but ends up just _barely_ turning his head to Reggie’s direction “— you pushed me and I scrambled and I tripped and I fell into your backpack.”

“You _fell_ into my _backpack?”_

“It’s a _lot_ bigger than it looks!” With a red face and cheeks puffed in a little pout, he looked almost reminiscent of a tomato.

“Alright… okay, we can work with this,” Reggie tries to convince himself. “It’s probably for the best, now I don’t have to go back to the house before we can get you home. Yeah, this will work great, just… stay quiet and don’t move around too much. There are mostly textbooks, but there should also be some casual reading material in there for if you get bored, and I’ll try to sneak you some of my lunch later. Yeah,” he nods to himself, “Yeah, this will be fine, just don’t… don’t _go_ anywhere.”

“Where would I go?”

“Fair enough, I have to get to class,” Reggie says as he zips up his backpack, but he stops when Luke tells him to wait. “What? Luke, we _really_ have to get a move on.”

“Do you really think I’m cute?” Luke asks with the _biggest_ puppy eyes Reggie had ever seen. He realizes that Luke has heard everything he has for the whole school day so far from his backpack— _including_ when he was gushing to his friends about his big fat crush. Suddenly, they’re _both_ a pretty shade of pink.

“Shut up,” Reggie manages in response before closing the backpack most of the way, leaving a little space open to keep certain the air’s flowing in there.

This leaves Reggie with _two_ things to stress out about for the rest of the school day. As if it isn’t bad enough that he still has yet to perfect the summoning spell, he also has to be certain that nobody even _looks_ in his backpack until school’s over. He doesn’t know whether he wants to put the whole day on pause so he can get that spell right or fast forward and get everything over with so he can focus on getting Luke back where he belongs. Just before lunch period, he finds himself caught between skipping lunch to practice the spell and the realization that Luke hasn’t had breakfast and could _really_ use that lunch break.

“By the way, I can’t have lunch with you guys today, I still have to work on that summoning spell,” Reggie informs his friends as they all stand in line outside the cafeteria.

“Alright, good luck Reg!”

“You can do it!”

“Break a leg!”

A wave of awkward silence permeates the hall before Flynn asks; “Reg, what are you doing? Go! Practice! You’ll be _fine.”_

“I was thinking I would pick up my lunch and put it in my backpack… you know, for… _later.”_

“Later? Bro, you can’t eat in class,” Alex reminds him.

“I-I know, but I just figured…” he shrugs his shoulders a little bit, “a lukewarm pizza from the school’s cafeteria might be nice to have with me for uh… sometime… later?”

“Dude, if you don’t mind my asking… what the fuck is up with you today?” Willie asks as if they’re casually discussing the weather. “Seriously, you’ve spent all day guarding that backpack with your life and now you want to put _school pizza_ in it just for later?”

“Yeah man, you _hate_ school pizza! You call it a disgrace to tomato sauce and cheese,” Flynn adds.

“There’s a perfectly good explanation for that!” Reggie rushes to say but finds he can’t come up with a good lie. “Okay,” he sighs, “I’ll explain everything after we get our lunch, but this can’t leave our group, okay? You guys tell _no one_ about this.”

They all agree and everything proceeds as normal as they get their lunches. “So what’s going on?” Flynn whispers as they all crowd around their table, huddled over one another.

Reggie takes a deep breath before answering, “Luke’s in my backpack.”

The whole group kinda freezes, staring at him like he just turned into a shark right before their eyes.

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m really not,” Reggie mumbles as he looks around before unzipping the backpack and letting Luke have the pizza.

“Aw man, _school pizza?_ I thought a magic witch school would have better food,” he grumbles even as he takes the offering.

And once again, the group is laughing, but this time he finds himself smiling a little too.

“C’mon, guys, it’s not—” a little snicker sneaks out. “Okay, this one’s a little funny,” he admits as he joins the crowd, but the laughter quickly dies when Flynn calls a “Carrie alert,” Reggie quickly shoving the food to Luke before zipping the bag back up.

“Hey, don’t let me kill the mood,” she says all too happily, a fake PTA mom smile plastered on her face.

“What do you want, Care?” Flynn _almost_ manages a glower and Carrie’s smile falters.

“Well I— I was handing out flyers for Dirty Candi’s show at the Eat & Beats and I um—” she shoves one to the group, “I thought you might like to have one. You should come. Or not, I don’t care. I just figured you might want one since you probably don’t have anything better to do you—” she looks to a corner, “you _losers.”_ And as quickly as Carrie had arrived, she left.

“Well, that was… certainly a thing. I better go practice before lunch breaks over, I’ll talk to you guys soon,” he says before getting up and starting to leave. As his friends cheer him on, he comes back. “Wait, Julie, can we talk for a sec?” He nudges his head to the side to silently add _“alone.”_

“Uh yeah! Yeah,” she agrees, following him to a corner of the cafeteria. “What’s up?”

“Have you—” he looks around to be sure no one’s listening before whispering “— have you heard any updates from your dad about what’s going on with the potion?”

“Not yet, but it should be ready when you get to the library. Are you sure you wanna do this?”

“I don’t have a choice and you know it,” Reggie answers. Of course, he probably _should_ be talking to Luke about it more. About how he’s not supposed to have even seen anything about this and he most _certainly_ can’t be allowed to remember it. Or about how just before going to bed, Reggie had called up Ray to ask him about the memory wipe potion and if he doesn’t mind whipping one up (because Ray’s _great_ with potions and Reggie definitely _isn’t_ ). Or about how he really, _really_ needs Luke to take it before it can hit 24 hours since the incident or all of the best things in Reggie’s life might just fall apart. But he doesn’t know how to say it.

“What was that thing with the potion about?” Luke asks after they get to an empty classroom and Reggie unzips the backpack to give Luke a break.

And Reggie just says “it’s nothing” before moving on to practice the spell, because he really, _really_ doesn’t know how to say it. He practices the spell over and over but with Luke there watching all he can seem to think about is how he’s gonna pull off getting the boy back home and what he’s gonna do with himself once all’s said and done. He just gets jackalope after jackalope _after jackalope_ and he’s _losing his mind._

“That’s it,” he huffs as he sits at a desk, leaning his arms on it and burying his face in them. “I give up. I’m gonna flunk this exam and then my parents are gonna yell at me and then I’m gonna drop out and become the family disappointment.”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that!”

“You can’t tell me you’ve never thought about it before.”

“Oh I _definitely_ have, but that’s because I’m an idiot. You…” Luke loosely gestures at him, “you read for _fun._ You’ll be fine, you just— you’re thinking too much, you need to calm down a little.”

“Okay,” Reggie turns to look at him, “and how do you suggest I do that?”

“I don’t know… tell me about wood.”

“Wood?”

“Last night when I asked about what the deal with the brooms was, you said something about wood and it’s been driving me insane because I have no clue what has to do with anything, so like… what about the wood?”

Reggie cracks a little smile as he sits back up. “Everything that lives runs on a constant flow of energy— including magic, which mostly takes from the energy of the earth.” He stands up before continuing, “that’s why after making a seal, the first thing you’ll do most often is press it to the ground.” He illustrates by pressing his hand down to the floor. “It’s like a contract— a promise for an equal exchange of energy.

“So, when you’re looking to use magic to get **away** from the earth, you need something with a strong connection to it— like wood, which literally grows _weaving_ itself into it. Everything in nature is seen as _essential_ for a witch— rocks, plants, animals— but trees are especially important because their bond with the earth makes them the _perfect_ vessel to hone in and _control_ magic.

“Of course, this isn’t to say all magic comes from the earth. There’s also star spells, which are _super_ difficult to master because the stars are both far away and have a _lot_ of energy to spare. So even if you _do_ manage to make a connection, you also have to worry about being able to _contain and control_ the energy it provides and I just realized you didn’t ask for this and I’m rambling so I’ll shut up now, sorry.”

“No,” Reggie’s eyes meet Luke’s, wide and open and pleading, Reggie’s on the verge of figuring out the color. It’s something like a green? Except it’s definitely not quite _green._ “No, don’t _stop._ Just… keep talking, _please_ keep talking, tell me about _everything_.” Reggie would do anything Luke told him to do except now the bell’s ringing.

“Shit, I still haven’t gotten the spell!” Reggie cries, moving past Luke to get his potions book out his bag.

“You’ll be okay, just don’t stress yourself over it, alright? The world’s not gonna end if you can’t summon your dog. Just take a deep breath, get through your classes, and then you can pull me out of this backpack and take me home.”

 _Take a deep breath, get through your classes, take Luke home. Take a deep breath, get through your classes, take Luke home. Take a deep breath, get through your classes, take Luke home._ For the first time in a while, Reggie feels like maybe he can perform a spell. Or maybe he can fail and it won’t be the end of the world.

Or maybe he can do anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **thanks to:**  
>  my beta, [alyssa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/decaffeinatedmisery), who i would not properly function without <3  
> [jatp-gift-exchange on tumblr](https://jatp-gift-exchange.tumblr.com/) for hosting this wonderful gift exchange <3  
> 


End file.
